


Three Times Rhett Kept Something from Link

by shinnyluvssuju



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M, Slice of Life, rhett is angsty, there's some fluff tho i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27648322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinnyluvssuju/pseuds/shinnyluvssuju
Summary: Everyone has their secrets, and Rhett is no exception.(companion to Three Times Link Kept Something from Rhett)
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Three Times Rhett Kept Something from Link

**Author's Note:**

> I told you there would be more. This one has a slightly darker tone but I like it just as much. You don't have to read the companion piece to understand this one. Enjoy! xoxo
> 
> Catch me on twitter @coldwhipp, tumblr @riverfetus, insta @wetcowboyboot

I.

Rhett has never trusted cops, and Link isn't really sure why. It's not like they've ever had bad experiences with one, as far as Link can remember. Any time they've had interactions with cops it had been because they were driving stupid or something else that was their fault. Link supposes it's the stories they hear about crooked police, but as white guys he cant recall a time where they'd been treated unfairly by a cop. Maybe it's just Rhett's issue with authority. Link writes it off as that.  
  
When they get into a fender bender on their way home from a buddy's house, Rhett isn't all that focused on his car. There's more damage to the guy that rear ended them anyway. What really gets him agitated is when they go out to see if the other guy is okay, and he responds by saying, "I'm fine, but I called the cops already, so don't worry about that. They'll be here soon."  
  
Link waits with Rhett by his car. "I don't get why this guy has to call the cops. Everyone's okay, damage is minimal, we should just move on."  
  
"Its just proper car accident etiquette man, no big deal." Link pats him on the shoulder. "Besides, it was his fault anyway, not yours."  
  
"That doesn't mean anything," Rhett mumbles. Link knows he isn't going to win this one, so he just crosses his arms and leans against the car silently.  
  
An officer shows up and interviews the other guy first. Then the officer approaches Rhett and Link, and Rhett instantly stiffens up. "How ya doing, boys? You two okay?"  
  
"Yeah, we're not hurt," Link answers.  
  
"Which one of you was driving?"  
  
"Me," Rhett says quietly.  
  
"The other gentleman says he hit you when you stopped at that red light. Is that true?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Alright, well I see there wasn't much damage done, but I'd still like for both of you to write up an accident report just for insurance purposes."  
  
"No problem," Rhett says, forcing a smile. He walks over to the police car with the cop and the other driver. Link stays behind and waits in the passenger seat.  
  
When Rhett comes back about twenty minutes later, he slinks into the drivers seat and lets out a big sigh. "How did it go?" Link asks.  
  
"Fine," he says, starting the car again and driving off.  
  
When Rhett refuses to elaborate, Link groans. "Why are you so nervous, man? Everything went fine."  
  
"This time it did," Rhett answers.  
  
"Why have you always had this weird fear of police officers?"  
  
Rhett's mind flashes back to four years ago, age fifteen. He's walking home from Link's house late at night, and crossing through the downtown area where there are still some bars open. He passes by an alleyway where he hears some rowdy and most likely drunk guys arguing. His curiosity gets the best of him as he hides behind a building and peaks down the alleyway to get a glimpse of the action.  
  
There's five guys on one side and one guy on the other, a cop standing between them. The group is yelling a bunch of things to the cop all at once while pointing at the guy on his own, who looks like he's just gotten the shit kicked out of him. Rhett cant make out much of the conversation, but he can make out bits and pieces.  
  
"He approached us, man! Clearly we had to protect ourselves!"  
  
"I didn't do shit to you assholes, I was just walkin' home minding my business!"  
  
The officer then asks the beat up guy if what the other guys are saying about him is true. The man responds with, "So what if it is? They still attacked me unprovoked!"  
  
"Go home, boys," the officer says to the group. They shuffle down the alleyway silently while the beat up guy looks at the officer in disgust.  
  
"Are you kidding me? You're gonna let them get away with this? Look at me!"  
  
The cop strikes the man in the face. "Don't talk to me like that, you fuckin' queer!"  
  
"Fuck you!"  
  
The officer then proceeds to give the man his second beatdown in one night. Rhett watches in horror as an officer of the law beats an innocent man within an inch of his life, for one reason and one reason only. He runs back home as fast as he can.  
  
Rhett is back in the present moment and looks over at Link. "I dunno," he says. "Just an instinct."  
  
II.  
"Come on Rhett, let's give it a try!" Link pleads excitedly.  
  
Rhett is not convinced. He stares at the elaborately decorated tent, looking a bit out of place at their county fair. "Why, so we can get scammed?" he asks.  
  
"Oh so what if it's a scam? It'll still be fun! Besides, you've never had your fortune told before. You don't know what its gonna be like! Maybe you'll get hints on winning lottery numbers or clues about your future!"  
  
Rhett doesn't really feel like spending ten bucks to get manipulated, but Link looks so excited that he cant resist. He gives in and Link practically squeaks with joy as they pull back the velvet curtain and enter the psychic's tent. Inside its smoky and smells like some sort of religious herb, maybe sage. There are candles all over (Link thinks it may be a fire hazard) and countless statuettes, and in the center of the tent is a large mahogany table. Seated there is a young woman, who doesn't really strike Rhett as the psychic type, but he tries not to judge.  
  
"Good evening, boys," she says with a smile in an accent that matches Rhett and Link's own. "Are you here for a reading?"  
  
"Yeah!" Link says happily.  
  
She looks them up and down in consideration. "I'd like to give your readings separately if that's alright," she says. Her eyes lock on Rhett's and it sends a lightning bolt down his back. "How about you first, hm?"  
  
"Sure," he replies, chuckling nervously.  
  
"I'll wait outside for ya!" Link says excitedly as he leaves the tent. Rhett hesitantly sits down at the table across from the psychic.  
  
She crosses her arms and looks at him for a long time. Rhett wants to ask what the hell is going on, but he's not going to pretend he understands the psychic process. Maybe this is just part of it. Or maybe she's figuring out what to say to him that would sound the most realistic. She has a stern expression on, looking down on him like an angry school teacher, but then it softens into one of an almost sad understanding. Without fully snapping out of whatever state she's in, she looks at Rhett. "Boy, you've really gone and made a mess of things, haven't you?"  
  
Rhett feels like a child getting reprimanded. "Huh?"  
  
"With this woman. The one you plan to marry."  
  
Rhett's pulse quickens, but it's a very general accusation. She could just be throwing things at him and seeing what sticks. "How so?" he challenges.  
  
"Your heart does not belong to her. You know that, but she does not. Not yet, anyway."  
  
Rhett swallows, hard. "Yet?"  
  
"She's gonna learn, but by the time she does its gonna be too late. Already invested so many years in you, a marriage, a family, a life. She wont want to start all over again. I don't know if she's going to tell you that she knows. But she will know."  
  
"That's not true," Rhett says, feeling silly about defending himself to a stranger but being unable to stop.  
  
"I don't know why they believe the things you say," the psychic drawls. "Your family, your friends, your fiance... you're not a great liar, you know. Perhaps they just don't want to believe it could all be an act."  
  
"What's an act, my life?" Rhett asks.  
  
"Not all of it. But a lot of it. How together you make yourself out to be, how confident you act, how brave you act... you like people to think you're doing just dandy all the time, don't you? You don't want to look weak to them, that must be it."  
  
Rhett's mouth is dry. "What do you see in my head?" he asks bluntly.  
  
She straightens in her chair. "I see that to you, getting married next year is like checking something off a to do list, not a life changing, romantic commitment. If it were up to you, you would wait a much longer time. But mom and dad are pressuring both of you. And you feel like you need to get them off your back." Rhett stares dumbly, and the woman continues. "Its interesting, because I was confused at first. I could tell that you had given your heart to someone, but then I saw it wasn't your fiance. Then I remembered the strange energy I felt when you came in here with your friend."  
  
"Strange energy?"  
  
"Yes. Two very complimentary energies attempting to meld at all times, but they never quite form completely into one. There's negative energy holding them back from each other just far enough that they can never quite touch. And this is tiring for you, isn't it? Tiring for your friend, as well."  
  
"You're not going to tell him all this, are you?" Rhett asks quietly.  
  
The psychic contemplates this. "I'm not sure. Its nothing your friend doesn't already know. He has known it deep in his soul for a very long time now. But he hides from it more than you do. He's prone to panic more than you are. I fear if he's confronted with this information, he will..."  
  
"Freak out," Rhett says, finishing the thought for her.  
  
"Exactly. He's harder on himself than you are. But... everyone deserves to know the truth. That's what they pay me for."  
  
"How much do I have to pay you not to tell him?" Rhett blurts out.  
  
The psychic is confused. "What?"  
  
Rhett takes his wallet out of his pocket. "How much to keep you quiet? Fifty?"  
  
The woman stares at the money Rhett is holding out to her. "I would feel so terrible..." She sounds like she means it.  
  
"You don't even know his name, how terrible are you going to really feel?" Rhett asks.  
  
"I do know his name! Charles!"  
  
"That's wrong," Rhett says.  
  
"Then what do you-- oh. You call him by his middle name."  
  
"I don't want to hear anymore," Rhett says, the room getting smaller and smaller. He takes out more money. "A hundred bucks to give him a reading that has nothing to do with me." He puts the money on the table and slides it over to her. "Deal?"  
  
She looks at the money like it's something dirty. Reluctantly, though, she slowly takes it, folds it up, and puts it in her pocket. "Deal," she says, voice wavering a bit. Rhett turns around to get the fuck out of there but he stops when he hears the woman call out, "Wait! I want to tell you something before you go!" He faces her and she takes a deep breath. "I just want you to know that... there's nothing you could have done to turn out different. It ain't your fault you're this way. It's just what was always meant for you."  
  
"Thanks," he mutters. She opens up her mouth to speak again but he rushes out of there.  
  
"That didn't take too long!" Link says when he sees Rhett again. "Well, how was it? Are we really getting scammed?"  
  
"It was actually pretty fun," Rhett says, forcing a smile. "You should go in there and see for yourself."  
  
Rhett stands outside the tent picking his cuticles and people watching, waiting for Link to finish up. He wonders if the psychic will keep her word. He wonders if he got played back there, but in his heart of hearts he knows he got read like a god damn book.  
  
Link emerges after a while and looks a little shell shocked. "It was wild, man," he says as they exit the fairgrounds and walk back to Link's car. "Its like... she really knew things that nobody could know unless they were literally in my mind."  
  
"Like what?" Rhett asks.  
  
"Oh y'know, just stuff about Christy, some stuff about my parents... you know what she said that really blew my mind? She said that Christy and I rushed into our engagement."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She said I want to end the cycle of a dysfunctional home so badly that I chose to be with someone who would make a perfect mother and not necessarily the best wife... who knows, man."  
  
"Yeah, who knows."  
  
Its just Rhett's luck that Link takes him to the one real psychic that has ever existed.

III.

It's already dark and pushing eight pm on a school night, so it's a safe bet that Rhett's parents will not let him go out. That's why when Link calls the house and talks to Rhett with such desperation and urgency, he just whispers, "Wait an hour and a half. I'll be there." 

His parents thankfully go to bed on time and he silently slips out the back door and grabs his bike. He peddles as fast as his legs will go because something in the tone of Link's voice was not right, something is very wrong. It takes him some time to get all the way across town, but as he makes his way towards Link's driveway he sees his friend sitting on the stoop, knees held to his chest. Rhett whistles and Link peers over at him, gets up and runs over to him. "Hop on," Rhett says. "We'll go to the graveyard." 

Link doesn't say a word as they ride. Rhett doesn't really mind, but he's desperate to get a laugh out of him or something so he takes his hands off the handlebars and holds out his arms like wings. Link's hands immediately grab Rhett's jacket tightly. "Hey! We'll fall!" he says, half panicked and half amused. 

"I ain't gonna let you fall," Rhett laughs. He puts his hand back on the bars but does it a few more times for good measure. 

They ride deep into the graveyard and stop where there's a bench made of stone. Link gets off first, and Rhett lets the bike fall onto the ground. They sit on the bench and Link's face is all seriousness again. He waits a little while and then asks, "What happened?" 

Link sniffles and pushes his shoe into the dirt. "Nothing really, I just... felt bad today. I was alone all day again and got to thinkin' and made myself sad." 

"What are you sad about?"

"Being alone all the time. And how I'm probably just gonna be alone forever." 

"Why would you say something like that?" Rhett asks. 

"Because I'm _weird!"_ Link exclaims. "Aren't I?"

"Well yeah, but in a good way," Rhett says. "Like unique, like special. Like interesting."

"You must be the only one that thinks so. I'm tired of no one wanting to talk to me at home and no one wanting to talk to me at school and no one wanting to talk to me _anywhere!_ And I'm so awkward I probably wouldn't be able to talk to someone who even wanted to. Except you, obviously. But you're able to make other friends. It's like I'm broken or something." 

"You're not broken," Rhett says. "You're my best friend." As if that's the end all, be all, the answer to all of Link's worries. But Rhett knows it isn't. 

Link starts to cry and it hurts Rhett a lot to have to see it. "My own mom doesn't want to make time to hang out with me. How am I ever going to get like, a girlfriend? I don't wanna be alone forever!" 

Rhett rubs Link's back gently like his mom does for him when he's sad. "Your mom doesn't hate you, man. She just has to work a lot. And plenty of girls are probably into you!" 

"Like who?" Link questions, and when he gets no response he sighs. "I'm ugly and weird and stupid! Maybe I deserve to be alone!" 

"You ain't none of those things," Rhett says, shaking his head. "And I can promise you this, you ain't never gonna be alone. You've got me. I know I'm just your best friend, but... at least when things get bad you have me."

Link just cries harder and hides his face on Rhett's shoulder. Rhett lets him get it out. He know there isn't much he can say right now to make Link feel better, but his mind is swimming with ideas. 

_I don't think you're ugly, I think you're real good lookin' actually. I don't think you're weird, I think you're a diamond in the rough. I don't think you're stupid, you're the smartest person I ever met. If I were a girl I'd be lucky to have you as a boyfriend._

"I ain't going nowhere," Rhett says instead. He repeats this as Link's cries cut through the silence of the chilly night. 


End file.
